Torros ex Jerbiton

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: The Price of Freedom
1

Revision 5
Torros ex Jerbiton

Changes:
Appearance added

Appearance of Torros

Torros is a young man with size a bit less than average, relatively small shoulders and thin arms.
He has thick and long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Usually his expression is friendly and a bit reserved. On the road he wears weather proven travel clothes of good quality.

Age: 25
Int: +2, Per: -1, Com: +1, Pre: +1, Dex: +2, Qik: +0, Sta: +1, Str: -1,
Personality:
Violent: If pushed/badly treated at some point he tends to physical aggression
Friendly: Most time in normal situations he tries to be friendly (more or less successful)
Careful: Tries to prevent situations that can make him angry.

Confidence Score: 1; Points: 3

Warping: 0 (1)

Wizards Sigil: icicles or other relations to frozen water manifest in his Spells

Free: The Gift, Hermetic Magus, Free expression
Virtues: Changed!
Gentle Gift (3)
Inventive Genius (1)
Lesser immunity (low temperature) (1)
Puissant Aquam (1)
Minor Magical Focus (Ice) (1)
Premonitions (1)

Flaws:
Enemies (3) (Abel of Jerbiton)
deficient Technik (Intellego) (3)
Susceptibility to Infernal Power(1)
Driven(Create an iced chamber for his artworks)(1)

Arts: score (Exp) Total Exp 120
Cr 5 (15)
Mu 4 (10)
In 0 (0)
Pe 3 (6)
Re 6 (21)
An 0 (0)
Aq 7+3 (28)
Au 3 (6)
Co 0 (0)
He 0 (0)
Ig 2 (3)
Im 4 (10)
Me 6 (21)
Te 0 (0)
Vi 0 (0)

Spells: Total Levels 120
Spell Name (level / Base, Range, Dur, Target) [Casting Total] {Penetration}

Artwork of Ice *** (ReAq 20 / Base 3, Touch+1, Part +1, conc +1) [18] {8}
Aura of rightful Authority (ReMe 20 /Base 5, Eye +1, Sun +2)[13]{-7}
Disguise of the transformed Image (MuIm 15 / Base 4, Touch+1, Sun+2) [9] {-6}
Bridge of Frost (ReAq 30 / Base 3, voice +2, Sun +2, Part +1, +1 size, varius shapes +1) [23]{-7}
Loss af But a Moments´s Memory (PeMe 15 / Base 10, Eye +1)[10]{-5]
Mighty torrent of Water (CrAu 20 / Base 5, Voice+2)[16]{-4}

*** Non Standard Spells:

Artwork of Ice (ReAq 20 / Base 3, Touch+1, Part +1, Sun +2, high precision and control +1)
Where the magus touches a piece of ice the ice is transformed to water. The magus can control the flow of the Water so that is can freeze at other positions on the Ice. The form of the (re)frozen ice is controlled by the Magus. If he wishes he can force the water to leave the Ice. In this case the water will react completely natural as soon as it left the Ice. This spell is designed to form artworks out of the Ice. The effect can be placed extreme precise.

Abilities: (Speciality) score (Exp) Total Exp. 240 Changed
German Low German (mundane arts) 5 (0)
Artes Liberales (geometry) 2 (15)
Carouse (staying sober) 1 (5)
Charm (the opposite sex) 1 (5)
Code of Hermes (dealing with mundane) 1 (5)
Etiquette (nobility) 1 (5)
Awareness (searching) 2 (15)
Bargain (artworks) 2 (15)
Concentration (Spell concentration) 1 (5)
Guile (fast excuses) 2 (15)
Profession (Ice carving) (sculptures) 2 (15)
Premonitions (!! Don’t Know!!??) 1 (0)
Latin (Hermetic usage) 4 (50)
Swim (underwater maneuvering) 2 (15)
Magic Theory (Aquam) 3 (30)
Area Lore Valnastium (geography) 1 (5)
Pharma Magica (Mentem) 1 (5)
Order of Hermes Lore (Jerbiton) 1 (5)
Brawl(Dodge) 3 (30)

Combat:
Dodge: Init: +0, At: --, Def:+4, Dam: --
Fist: Init: Init: +0, At: +5, Def: +3, Dam: -1
Dagger: Init: +1, At: 7, Def: 3, Dam: +2
Kik: Init: +-1, At: 5, Def: 2, Dam: +2

Possessions:
Travel clothing, Wizardly robes, Backpack, Dagger, Wax tablet, Ink , quill, Parchment, Blanket, Backpack

Silver: ? lbs
Vis Stocks: ?
Books: ?
Lab Texts: ?
Other resources:?

2

I hope this is a case where I learn something new about character construction. As far as I can tell, there are only 70 points of abilities from apprenticeship. But the Artes Liberale, Latin, Magic Theory, Finesse, Penetration and Parma Magica add up to 110, plus Order Lore and Code of hermes for another 10. Yes, the remanining abilities add up to 70 xp, so that total is the 190 you have at apprenticeship completion (plus the 170 in arts.) But I thought the first 120 xp had to fit certain limitations, unless you had virtues or flaws which got around that (like Educated and Covenant Upbringing.)

3

I used the Metacreator to create the character.
But maybe there is a bug I didn’t know.
45 Exp for the first 5 years (early childhood)
75 for later life
240 for the apprenticeship

Seems to fit.

I will try to (re)build the same character by hand using only the “detailed Character Creation” as stated in ArM5 page29. I will report if I find something wrong.

4

Flavius, the xp grand total is correct. And I tend to assume that metacreator knows what it is doing.
Which is why I may be missing something. It looks like you are using some of those 75 later life points on things that are Hermetic or Educated in nature.

5
On the main character window, where characteristics, warping, Confidence, House and other things are displayed you will also see, under the Totals section Spent Exp: Before finalizing it will show the left side in red if there is a problem with the allocation. Also, when you finalize the character, if that left sided of the spent experience equation is red, it will warn you that there are problems with the character. My guess is that while the totals do match, the left side is red indicating that there is an imbalance in later life abilities...
6

You are right!
I listed it up using an exel Table. In there I found that it will only fit if I use some of the 75 foreseen for later live that should normally be learned during apprenticeship.
I tricked the Metacreator (or the Metacreator tricked me).
I added the template data of a standard Jerbiton and then moved all arts and Abilites around.
During this process I got the warning “not enough childhood abilities (35/45)” By putting more points in awareness I solved that.
This will also happen in case I reduce the Awareness to 1 and increase the Pharma to 2 (for example). I just tried that. In this case also the display of the Spend Exp will show left side 480 in red and right side 480 normal black. However this monitoring seems not to work for the 75 points to be spent in later live!

At the moment I see two possible solutions:
1: We assume the character was raised by an educated person right after his childhood. I could by an extra virtue and balance it with an additional flaw. But I don’t know what virtue would cover that.
2: I reduce the Arts and hermetical Abilities to by/increase some Abilities that could be learned in later live

7

The most obvious solution is to take the story flaw "covenant raised" (which also gives you another minor virtue), and explain in the background where he was raised. Then the 75 points can go where you like, which makes the setup you provided work as far as I can tell. (Which is why lots of folks like "covenant raised".)

8

The Flaw Covenant Upbringing seems an option, and with most other houses I would have taken it to solve this. But for house Jerbiton it seems not to fit, due to their political and social contacts to the mundane world.
By reviewing my character it seems to tend a bit too much to the hermetical arts.
I´m just busy with solution 2.

9

What about the Educated virtue?
I guess it's a call for Arthur as GM but I wouldn't say that you have to have gone to a formal grammar school or university, if you can explain that he spent a lot of time training with an educated teacher.
You also get 50 extra points for Artes Liberales and Latin.

10

I made a revision of the character. Now he has less hermetic more material abilities. In opinion this suits a gentle gifted Jerbiton better.

Changes in Revision 1:
Characterisitcs changed
Finesse and Penetration deleted,
arts reduced, ability swim increased.
new abilities from later live: Brawl and Great weapon (Staff)

EDIT:
R1 was be moved in the 1st Post
R2 is currently under construction

11

I note that you don't have any story flaw.
I don't think it's mandatory to have one, but since they are usually not so harsh as some of the General and Hermetic flaws can be to the direct stats it's a good way to get another virtue, plus they may add to the personality and the GM can/should spun more personalized stories from them.
A major story flaw will give you some virtue points to play with.

12

Hm,
I have already 7 Points in the Virtues and Flaws.
If the SG don´t mind I could get a major story Flaw (Fury for example) and then balance it with Shapeshifter (Eagle).
Arthur, what do you think?

13

General comment on this topic's formatting -- you should edit the first post instead of reposting the whole character. Simply list the changes you have made. The first post should contain your currents stats at all times. Makes it easier for me to track down what to use. 8)

Now, about the character...

Note that Dex is the stat you will be using to determine the quality of your ice statues...

You are allowed up to 10 points of virtues, balanced by flaws. So yes, you could take an additional flaw such as Fury to purchase additional virtues.

Although Fury might not be the best flaw for a Gentle-gifted Jerbiton... And we already have a magus with the Shapeshifter virtue, so there might be an overlap there. Also, Shapeshifter seems a strange selection for this character -- completely outside of his overall concept.

Your points are very much scattered across too many Arts. This will leave the character weak in everything. You should think about tightening his focus. Consider a few things. The covenant will have very limited resources, so you won't have a large Library to help you improve those Arts. So high scores will be more valuable than a bunch of low score, particularly if the magi want to teach each other or write their own books. Study Requirement flaw will also make it harder for him to learn some Arts to high level. So you may want to have him start the saga with better scores in fewer Arts.

Same thing for spells. You have numerous low-level spells that the magus could spont (at first) or easily invent from scratch (eventually) -- Clear sight of Naiad, Comfort of the drenched Traveler and Footsteps of slippery Oil. All three can easily be cast spontaneously

You also have several spells that, although useful, are less strongly related to your magus' concept. Sight of the transparent Motive, Aura of ennobled Presence and Disguise of the transformed Image are clearly related to your House selection, but you could probably remove one or two of them without weakening your character's ability to deal with mundanes. That is mostly based on Abilities anyway. Personal Lungs of the Fish is also strange, considering that the character was apprenticed inland and his interest with Aquam was developped fairly late. It is also outside of his ice sculptor focus. Granted, it might prove very useful once you get to the island, but why would have his pater/mater taught him that? This may be something he would strive to invent once he joins the covenant.

Artwork of Ice is fine mechanically, but the description needs to be more precise. How large an amount of ice does it turn into water at one time? Does the water refreezes once he stops touching it?

Low German (along the coast) or High German (farther inland)?
Note that with a specialty in Academic usage for Latin, he cannot write books about Hermetic Arts (as he would be able with a specialty with Hermetic usage).

Again, a bit scattered in the ways he can deal with mundanes. Weak in all areas, particularly since his Com and Pre scores are low.

Lots of points in those Abilities. Great Weapon could only be learned during apprenticeship, since you don't have a virtue for martial abilities, so it drains xp that could be better used elsewhere. Or Brawl could be lower, allowing better social skills. How was Swim learned? Was he raised in a place where that was useful? Valnastium is very far from large bodies of water...

That would be Craft: Ice Sculptures. You ice-sculpting spell is D:Conc, so you can only use it up to 30 minutes at a time for now. You'll get plenty of opportunities to practice Concentration with that spell! :astonished:)

Nice typo. No drug for this man! :wink:

14

I chose the bad dex purposely. There must be some reason he did his carving bad with the more standard materials Stone and Wood. So I thought to give him bas dex as and good Aquam as a substitute. With his normal abilities he would never be able to do some thigh worth to be considered as an artwork. But with his Mu Aq he could.

Also ok for me to increase the dex and see it more in a way like “With stone or wood I can create something but a real artwork will require ICE!”

I will focus a bit more in the arts. And I will change the Abilities to be more social.
German and Latin will get different specialties.

Description and design of Artwork of Ice will get more detailed descriptions.

Spells: Yes there are several spells on low levels. This was due to the idea that an apprentice will have to start with something, something not too complex. Less low level spells and more potent spells is also ok for me 

Virtues/Flaws: In case I will find an acceptable Flaw, the additional virtues are easy.

Ability swim: You can found small or medium sized lakes nearly everywhere in Germany. During Summer they are not too could. And due to my lesser immunity even this doesn’t matter much. The Focus on Aquam was already present in the little Peter let him spend as much time as possible in the water where he could find it.

I edited the First and second post of Torros.

Next changes will take a day or two.

15

Just wanted to make sure that you were aware of the effects of a low Dex. Magic would not necessarily be a substitute for it -- it's just a tool. The closest thing to what you envision would have been Puissant Craft.

I was thinking about your character and wondering why you didn't go for a Minor Magic Focus with Ice. That would probably be more efficient (and focused) than Puissant/Affinity in Aquam.

But I'll let you play with his stats some more. No hurry. :smiley:

16

That focus thing is a nice Idea!
It would make some more adjustments necessary.

Additionally I´m thinking about the (re) adjustments of the arts At the moment. In and Me are common in house Jerbiton. For both we already have a specialist. Should I reduce these two arts to 0? That seems not the best solution. As a gentle gifted character this two might be useful. On the other hand better Arts in Aq and maybe Au (for water supply by weather Magic) could bring a common benefit.

Need to breed a bit over that. :bulb:

17

Perhaps leave one of the two (Mentem or Imaginem) with a score? Maybe replace one of the Deficient Form to cover the other?

It would explain why a traditionnal area of Jerbiton magi is left undeveloped in Torros. And with a Magical Focus with Ice, his lack of enthusiasm with Terram/Herbam-related artform could be explained as a simple lack of interest, rather than because he was weak in magic in (one or both of) those particular areas.

18

Changed the Characteristics, Virtues and Flaws, Abilities, Arts and Spells.

New Virtues: Minor Magial focus (Ice), Premonitions.
Deleted Virtues: Affinity with Aquam
New Flaw: deficient Technik (Intellegto)
Deleted Flaws: deficient Form herbam, deficient Form Terram

Arts: More Focused but still a wide knowledge:

Abilities: Great Weapon deleted; Artes Liberals, Bargain and Profession increased. Specialty in Latin changed to heretic usage

Spells: changed to approximately 75 %, general less spells with higher Level.

19

I assume that Free Expression would be his Jerbiton House virtue? If that is the case, it would be free, leaving space for another minor virtue.

Having 2 Major Hermetic Flaws usually means that your master was negligent when opening your Gift. It is generally considered a Low Crime to inflict 2 Major Hermetic Flaws on your apprentice.

It doesn't mean that you need to change it -- I just thought you should know that your pater (or mater) would be looked down upon for this reason.

Probably a score of 0 (0) in Corpus, otherwise you have 123 points in Arts.

All your spells work. Just a note, however, that your only attack spell won't be able to penetrate against targets that have any magic resistance, unless you are Lucky on the die roll. Just thought you should be aware of that vulnerability.

Note that this spell seems designed to work only on the surface of water. So it probably won't work quite as well if you eventually use it underwater.

Also, I will probably allow target of the entrapment effect to make a Quikness roll to see if they can avoid being trapped in the first place. This would be essentially an Ease Factor inverse of what is displayed in the table to break free -- avoiding being completely encased will need a roll of 6+, whereas avoiding having at least one foot (or hand) trapped in the ice would need a roll of 21+. Also, Size will help break free from the ice.

I simply dislike indirect auto-kill spells, which this spell could easily become when used against swimming targets. :smiling_imp:

Is that Low German or High German?

Low German was used in Northern Germany (Flanders, Lower Lorraine, the Friesian islands, Saxony and Pomerania).
High German was used in Southern Germany (Swabia, Franconia, Bavaria and Switcherland).

20

Yes thats true. Thanks for the hint.

Corpus 0 (0) is correct

I know. By the time I hope It will getting better.

Totally agree! Otherwhise it would be too easy

In case of freee choise I will take low german. and I would like to shift my background story and Area lore more north. Fengehld for example. This will explain why my native tounge is low german.